The man who withstood to the Red Army and slapped Islamic fanaticism in the face, our hero,... This site does not represent Mr. Massoud or any of his allies or opponents.  This is an independent Afghan home page.

As most of the educated Muslims know, God prohibited human beings from creating statues, shapes, images or other objects for the purpose of worshiping them.  I need your focus, it is important to distinguish between objects created for worshiping, and objects for decoration or to record memories or history.

After 5 years of their surfacing, the Taliban are now well known to the world for their illogical and fanatic ways.  First they banned women from work and girls from schools, then required men to grow untrimmed beard.  They banned children from flying kites, they practically took TV sets from people's houses and ran them over by tanks and even hang them from the traffic light polls.

In their fist day in Kabul, violating all diplomatic norms, Taliban stormed the UN compound which gave immunity to the unpopular Dr. Najibullah, the former communist president of Afghanistan for 2 years.  Taliban solders executed both Najibullah and his brother in the UN compound then pulled their bodies to the streets and hanged them on a Kabul cross section for two days.  The world watched in shock.

Soon after that, Taliban began to collect men and teen age boys from Kabul, tortured and killed them only because they were ethnic Hazaras,  Tajiks, or simply because they were at an age that they could pose threat to the Taliban regime.  It was obvious that Taliban authorities in Kabul felt themselves out of place.

The long list of Taliban's atrocities and genocide towards people of Kabul, Parwan, Kapisa, Bamyan, Mazar, Baghlan, Herat and other parts of the country is still growing.

Taliban's leader who is related to the international terrorist Osama bin Ladin by marriage.  He is known to have lost one eye during the Soviet invasion era, but it is not clear if he was the target of Soviet fire or in-fighting among mujahideen themselves.

His name is Mohammad Omar, now famous for Mullah (religious leader) Mohammad Omar Mujahid, Amir-ul-Momineen (leader of the faithful in Arabic).

Amir-ul-Momineen is a the title given to Abu Bakr Seddiq (rta) who was a close companion and  father-in-law of Mohammad (saws) the prophet of Islam and later he became the first Caliph of Islam.  A well deserved title.  Unlike Taliban's leader, Abu Bakr Seddiq (rta) was not a fanatic, therefore, respected by all Muslims around the world.

To the Pakistani madrasa students who joined the ranks of Taliban under Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) manipulation, the title Amir-ul-Momineen served well.  It gave the Taliban army a false sense of living  during the time of the holy prophet and waging holy war against Kuffar (infidels).  There are no Kuffar in Afghanistan.

The religion and culture of the Taliban appears to be Islamic only according to their own statements.  Observing Taliban's actions, decrees and fatwas, other Muslims of the world are now convinced that the Taliban will not leave the scene of world events without leaving a major scare in the history and image of Islam.

Recently, one of the decrees issued by Mullah Omar which requires all Afghan men to wear turbans (lungee/dastaar) went uneventful t the world but came as an other shock to the people of Afghanistan.  Mullah Omar stated that wearing turbans will make people better Muslims, lacking a scientific explanation.

It wasn't long after that when another decree from Mullah Omar caught the world off-guard.  This time Taliban were aiming to destroy Afghanistan's national treasures.  The Bamyan Buddhas and other centuries old artifacts preserved in various museums.

From Asia to Europe, to Africa, to Australia and Americas, governments, universities, organizations and religious groups condemned Mullah Omar's decree and asked for a reversal of the his decision, sighting that those artifacts and status belong to the people of world and are part of the Afghan heritage.

Mullah Omar told reporters that his decision was based on Islamic laws and norms.  This caused major world renown Islamic leaders from Iran to Egypt to Russia, to India to loud their voices in condemnation of the decree and called it un-Islamic.

Nothing changed Mullah Omar's stand, but instead he further stood firm in executing the task of destroying the Buddha status and other invaluable artifacts in Afghanistan.

Finally, on Friday March 2nd, 2001, news poured in from Afghanistan that the Taliban have targeted the two large statues with tank and anti-aircraft fires.  Taliban stated that the head and the legs of the giant status were already destroyed and the rest will be destroyed after Eid-ul-Adha, on Thursday March 8th.

It is now over.  The two 5th century giant Buddha status which once attracted tourists from around the world, now have turned in to a pile of dirt and sand on the mountain side in Bamyan.

Now that Afghans lost a part of their heritage, and the world have lost a part of their history in the name of Islam, it is up on the Muslims of the world to make a point and express that this action of the Taliban was not an Islamic one and that Islam is far better than what the Taliban are portraying it to be.

Islam is a religion of tolerance, forgiveness, peaceful co-existence with other faiths and no doubt the fasted growing a religion in the world.

It is requested to the non-Muslims to disassociate all actions of the Taliban and of their Pakistani supporters  from Islam.  It is requested from Hindus not to make the same mistake the Taliban made and do not attempt to destroy Muslim Mosques in revenge as this act will cause other conflicts between people of the two faiths which will only further strengthen the fanatics like Taliban, and Pakistani religious parties and Kashmiri terrorists.

One may wonder, what is next in Taliban's agenda?  When will they do next?  What other tragedies are awaiting the people of Afghanistan.

Why did the world was not shaken when the Taliban repeatedly massacred thousands of innocent civilians in various parts of the country?

When will the world realize that this is a kind of alien invasion in progress, very much like that in the American Sci-Fi TV series "The War of the Worlds".

MassoudAfghan@geocities.com